


we'll clear away the ash together (or, what happened whilom)

by Spoofymcgee



Series: sunrise, sunset [9]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Awesome Padmé Amidala, BAMF Anakin Skywalker, BAMF Padmé Amidala, CT-7567 | Rex is a Good Bro, Dogma (Star Wars) Deserved Better, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Flirting, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, Healing, Makeshift Crutches, Mushrooms, Nahdar Vebb Lives, Planet Umbara (Star Wars), Protective Plo Koon, Rare Pairings, Romantic Fluff, The Light Side of the Force (Star Wars), Tired CT-6116 | Kix, and he gets it, anyway enjoy this, is covered in mushrooms, it makes your eyes glow blue, no i will not be taking comments at this time, that's what they are, they go bye, very quickly, we said nope to krell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28009791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoofymcgee/pseuds/Spoofymcgee
Summary: "Hey, Fisto," Anakin calls croakily from the little private tent across the way. "You better not be flirting with my CMO again.""Why the fuck are you awake?" Kix shouts back. "You have enough sedatives in your system to knock out a pack of nexu!""Sheer determination to slug General Fisto in the face," Rex informs him, arm wrapped securely around Anakin's waist. Kix is on his feet faster than Yoda can decapitate a B1."What do you think you're doing?""Punching him," Anakin answers, flinging an arm out in Fisto's general direction. The entrance flaps fly open."Do you mean," someone asks from behind them. "Going back to bed, and letting me punch him for you?"
Relationships: CT-5597 | Jesse/CT-6116 | Kix, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, Dogma (Star Wars)/Commander Monnk, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/CT-7567 | Rex/Anakin Skywalker, almost there - Relationship, very close - Relationship
Series: sunrise, sunset [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927888
Comments: 4
Kudos: 102





	we'll clear away the ash together (or, what happened whilom)

**Author's Note:**

> direct sequel to when the smoke clears

"Is he alright?"  
"He's going to be," Kix says grimly. "Two inches to the left and he'd be dead. As it is…" he trails off, shaking his head.  
"Why is he thrashing like that?" Rex demands, fingers tightening on his bucket.   
"I gave him pharma, for the pain, and somaprin, to make him sleep. They sometimes cause nightmares interacting, but he  _ needs _ to rest, and-"  
"Nightmares?" Kix nods sharply, once, walking over to grab a 'pad from one of the other beds. "Is there anything we can do about it?"  
He hesitates for a second, tapping at it. "I-physical contact? Might help? I don't really know. It only happens with point three percent of patients, and I've never had to treat it before. Usually I just use numbspray, but he's allergic."   
He turns back to Rex-or rather, where Rex had been. Because  _ Rex  _ is halfway to the bed and in the process of removing his armor off while glowering at Kix.

"Captain, I didn't mean-"  
"I can't believe I have to  _ cuddle _ him," Rex grumbles, unlatching his chest plate.  
"You don't  _ have  _ to, sir."  
"No, I'm gonna."

Jesse has always wondered how Monnk deals with Fisto, whom he knows,  _ from personal experience,  _ is a coquettish asshat disguised as a Jedi Councillor.  
As it turns out, the answer is by  _ also  _ attempting to seduce literally everything that moves within a five mile radius.

Umbara's terrain is uniformly chaotic, so when Monnk hobbles out of the  _ Stormrider _ , arm caught up in a sling and leg bandaged to the waist, leaning heavily on a cursed-looking contraption seemingly made of tape and rusty pipes, all he can see is pending disaster. A few flashed signs and a consignment of his troopers sets off towards the space-to-ground craft. Quick as they are, Dogma's the only one who gets there on time. 

Exactly as Jesse has predicted, Monnk's crutch sinks into a soft strip of mud next to the ship's ramp and he stumbles, rocketing towards a full on faceplant.  
Dogma, smooth as the captain's dance moves when he's drunk, loops his arms around Monnk's armor-plated torso and pulls him back up.

"Thank you, trooper," he says, once he's steadily back on his feet again, Dogma's arm wrapped securely around his waist. He stares morosely at his hideous, red-tinged thing, which has fortunately sunken into the mud, for. "That was  _ quite  _ a catch." Jesse can  _ hear  _ his fluttering lashes, nevermind he has a bucket on.   
"Commander!" he barks, booking it across the bog. "I'm submitting a formal request for you to keep your karking hands  _ off my scouts! _ "  
"Denied," Monnk tells him cheerfully, slinging an arm around Dogma's shoulders. 

Kit steps out of the ship, head tilted slightly in a mix of fascination and questioning. He is, as usual, wearing the bare minimum of clothing necessary to keep one's dignity-not that Fisto had any in the first place. Jesse glowers at him from behind the safety of his helmet. For fuck's sake, there are _speedies_ around! A growth cycle and a half away from fully grown is e _ntirely_ too young to be allowed near That Fucker _._

Kix wanders out of camp, disheveled enough that Jesse can't believe he's slept in the past forty eight hours, but he's wearing at least half of his own armor, and none of anyone else's, and his vambraces aren't strapped to his calves, so they'll call it a win. Fisto, upon seeing Kix honest-to-god  _ bounces  _ over to him _.  _ He looks ridiculous. Jesse treats him to a disdainful sigh and a paltry shaving of pity, because, really, Kix  _ is  _ very pretty.

"Lieutenant Kix!" Kit shouts, waving at the exhausted CMO already on his way over.   
"Hello, general," Kix says, tone tiredly polite enough to  _ almost  _ hide the way it's edged with amusement. Kit pouts, and a few taps on his bucket controls snap Squid a holo of his face, edit it next to one he has from their last Temple visit of a youngling with the same expression, and forward it directly to command chat. 

" _ Hello, general?! _ " Kit asks grumpily. "That's all the greeting I get from my favorite medic after flying  _ all  _ the way out here to-"  
"Nice to see you again too, sir," Kix replies, drier than a lake on Tatooine. Immediately, Bouncy Kit is back. The spring in his step as he trails behind Kix to the med tent could launch a ship into orbit.  
"I'm sure it's nicer to see  _ you, _ " Fil hears, stepping off the ship and looking around.  
"It's all clear, sir," he calls back.

"Are you sure?" Nahdar asks, poking his head out and blinking big, gold eyes around to confirm the absence of his embarrassingly amorous former master.  
"Yessir, he's followed the 501st's CMO to medical."  
"Oh, no," Nahdar wails, rushing down the ramp. "Are you sure?"  
"Very, sir."   
Jesse growls. Er, tries to growl. His vocoder adds a purring effect to the sound, and he stares off into the middle distance for several moments, trying to determine exactly how dead his insides feel.  
"Who let him do that?!" Nahdar asks frantically, hands flapping. "Please don't kill him, lieutenant, we  _ do  _ still need him to fight the war."  
  
"...That was the general?" one of Jesse's scouts asks quietly. He inhales deeply before nodding.  
" _ Yes,  _ vod. That was. And I'd advise you to stay the frip away from him unless you're in the mood to scrub freshers."  
"Was that a threat? That was a threat, right? I feel threatened."  
"Good," he hisses, and storms off to sulk near one of the mushrooms.

"You're looking particularly beautiful today," Kit says, at an angle against the main pole.  
Kix smiles, though it's probably hidden by the makeshift sheet of a privacy curtain. Carefully, he finishes tying off the bandage before answering.  
"Thank you, sir."  
"Please, call me Kit. Oh, that hand looks heavy," somehow, it's always a surprise how quietly he moves. "Can I hold it for you?"  
This wins him a quiet huff of laughter, and a shake of Kix's head.  
"I'm good, thank you."

It's quiet for a few minutes, and then-  
"So," he asks, leaning his elbows on the gurney rail and propping his head up on palms. "I don't suppose you'd be free after your shift tomorrow? I hear the Umbaran sunsets are incredible." Kix's lips tug up at the corners.   
"Sorry, sir," he answers, pushing his pauldron out of the way and tapping the three solid lines that decorate the top of his rerembrace. "Jesse's been planning dinner for months. He'd kill someone if I'm late." Kit deflates, just a bit.

"I suppose I should have guessed," he sighs, slumping to the floor.   
"Probably," Kix agrees. "But don't feel too bad. I think Commander Bly has a thing for you." This, of course, cheers him up immediately.  
"You think so?"  
"Oh, sure. I bunk down with the captain whenever we've got shore leave on Corrie, and the other commanders always tease him about it."

"Hey, Fisto," Anakin calls croakily from the little private tent across the way. "You better not be flirting with my CMO again."  
"Why the fuck are you awake?" Kix shouts back. "You have enough sedatives in your system to knock out a pack of nexu!"  
"Sheer determination to slug General Fisto in the face," Rex informs him, arm wrapped securely around Anakin's waist. Kix is on his feet faster than Yoda can decapitate a B1. 

"What do you think you're doing?"  
"Punching him," Anakin answers, flinging an arm out in Fisto's general direction. The entrance flaps fly open.  
"Do you mean," someone asks from behind them. "Going back to bed, and letting me punch him for you?"

"Padmé!" he cries delightedly. "Rex, help me over, please?"  
"Hm?" Rex's entire face has gone soft and gooey, and he looks exactly like a sickeningly adorable puppy. "Oh, yeah."   
"Oh, no," Kit whispers looking horrified.   
"Oh, yes," Kix tells him grimly, standing and dusting off his hands.   
"How long?"  
"Since after that time with the weird Separatist superweapon that kidnapped her,"

"You're kidding," for some odd reason, Kit is surprised. He shouldn't be; everyone knows the five-oh-first are actually chaotic bastards with a side of communication issues. "Do they-hey Skywalker!"  
"Mmm?" Anakin replies, face buried in Padmé's neck.  
"If you're going to make out with your girlfriend, could you not do it here? I've just been turned down by the love of my past two months, and I'm not in the mood to watch you sappy rom-com your way around base!"  
There's a charged silence.

"Girlfriend?" Anakin wonders aloud.   
"Shush, Ani," Padmé jabs him in the shoulder. "It seems, Master Fisto, that you haven't done your research very well,"  
"What-oh no," he groans, burying his face in his hands. " _ How?  _ How did you hide it from  _ Obi-Wan?! _ "

"Obi-Wan knows? Since  _ when?! _ "  
"The first picture of her you put up in your room in the temple," Kix says smugly.   
"That was two hours after I got back to Coruscant!"  
"Oh, I know."  
"How are you  _ married? _ " Kit complains, flopping back to starfish himself on the ground.  
"Who's married?" Nahdar asks, popping through the doors. "Master, if you're proposing to Kix, I swear, I'll let Lieutenant Jesse go through with his plan to set you up on a date with Dooku!"

There's a collective stunned silence, before Kix asks, voice cracking halfway through; " _ What?" _

"Ask your husband," Nahdar grumbles. "Come on, master, Fil and I need your help dragging Monnk away from Lieutenant Jesse's Cpl. before he sprouts a lightsaber in the chest." Kit slides to the floor like jelly, not that that deters Nahdar. He unties his tunic belt, and in one quick motion loops it underneath Kit's arms and starts sliding him out of the tent.  
Kix glances over at Rex, who's  _ still  _ staring at Amidala and sighs.

"Where is he?!" for the second time, the med tent flaps slam open with a loud whoosh, and Plo Koon storms into the hall, blue light flaring behind his goggles. Padmé's moved to sit against a pole, cradling Anakin in her lap and talking quietly to him as he peppers her hair with gentle kisses. Rex is ostensibly doing inventory, which is really just an excuse to bury his face in datapads whenever he thinks someone's going to catch him looking at them. Kix wants to throw himself off a mushroom. "I'm going to rip his heart out and feed it to him."  
"General…" Boost trails helplessly behind him, throwing Kix a beseeching look.

"No you won't," Anakin informs him calmly, nuzzling Padmé's ear.   
"And _why_ is that, Skywalker?" Plo growls, stalking forward.  
"We need his testimony," Padmé answers.  
"And if you touch him, I'll be legally mandated to send a medic in to see to his injuries on pain of trial for myself and all my troops of obstruction of sentient rights," Anakin says, finally looking up. His eyes are blinding, nearly white. "If you're the reason I have to let one of my medics anywhere near that _stchiyut,_ I will kill you with my bare hands."

Plo's shoulders fall.   
"What can we  _ do  _ then?" he asks, sinking to sit on the floor. Anakin smiles. It's a touch too wide. His canines gleam in the light of his eyes.   
"Put him away and watch him  _ rot, _ " he says simply, and then blinks the glow out of his eyes and goes back to cuddling his wife.

"General Plo?" Rex asks, in the tired tone that means he knows he won't like the answer. "Aren't you supposed to be eight sectors away dealing with a CIS invasion?"

"You know," Monnk murmurs, sprawled out on a scavenged pile of cushions with all the easy grace of a princeling, holding a ration bar as though it's a glass of fine wine. "There's one thing the general and I have in common."  
Dogma hums inquisitively, signing another after-action and sending it off for approval. 

Monnk's head tips back into his lap, pushing Dogma's 'pad to the side and snaring his gaze.  
He grins, and it waltzes on the sharp edge between dangerous and seductive.   
"We both go for the smart ones," he says huskily, and the shadow of Dogma's tattoo cuts through the blush dusting his cheekbones.  
"Is that so?" he asks, tone low and glimmering spades of with underlying meaning.  
"I couldn't lie to someone as pretty as you," Monnk answers.  
  
He touches Dogma's cheek, feather-light, and then slides his hand down to rest on his collar, callused hands catching of the black fabric.  
"Mmm, I'm not sure I believe you," Dogma muses, eyes sparkling with poorly concealed mischief.  
"Let me convince you then," Monnk whispers, and leans up, ever so carefully, until Dogma can feel the difference between one breath and the next, alternating warm and cold against his own lips.

The entrance whips open with a sound like tearing paper.  
"Oops," Anakin says, letting the flap slump out of the invisible grip holding it and eyeing it guiltily as it crumples on the ground. "I'll fix that. Dogma, Jesse wanted to-whoa!"

He catches sight of Monnk, sprawled across Dogma's thighs and boring holes in his skull.  
"Hello, sir," Dogma hums, setting his forgotten datapad down on a spare blanket and carding a hand through Monnk's hair. He  _ melts,  _ like ice on Tatooine. Doesn't stop glaring at Anakin, but it's an improvement. "Commander Monnk was just helping me file some paperwork."

"Paperwork? Are you sure you don't mean-you know what, I'm not getting in the middle of this."  
"Good idea," Monnk growls, and then turns back into a puddle when Dogma scritches the crown of his head.  
"See you later!" Anakin calls, walking away on unsteady feet, looking almost drunk.  
"Enjoy your making out-" he coughs. "-erm, work."  
They watch him go for a few seconds, and then Dogma looks down and smirks.   
"So," he asks, licking his lips. "Where were we?"

**Author's Note:**

> this one's for JediKnightRubyAndClones and kaisicle.
> 
> ...yes, i did go there. no, i do not regret it. 
> 
> also, hey, if anyone wants to come nag me to make rex more bamf in the next one, feel free the drop by my [tumblr](https://starfall14.tumblr.com//%5Bstarfall14%5D)  
> and yell at me.


End file.
